Essay 2: Describe an interest particularly meaningful to you.

A sky full of stars!

It is difficult for me to describe the meteor shower I saw on the night of Nov. 18, 2001. Bright stars twinkled in the vast expanse and dazzling meteors created a variety of colors-the magnificence was beyond my imagination. Perhaps you do not realize that was the very reward for my 9-year efforts. Recollecting my 9-year obsession with astronomical observation, my dedication and perseverance, I can report that I have experienced both bitterness and sweetness.

I joined an astronomy amateur group when I was in Grade III of my primary school. Indeed, astronomy could not add credits to my school report. However, I joined the group without hesitation just because of a child's love for the starry night sky.

I have devoted much enthusiasm and energy to the study of astronomy. To years later, the universe became more complex rather than clearer in my mind. It reminded me of a well-known remark: "The more one learns, the more ignorant one finds himself." The mysteries of the universe have ever created a curiosity inside me. I came to know something called "infinity". I began to integrate myself with the starlight by means of the telescope.

Only in observation can we find out the universe in its real sense. It is expansive, exuberant, and mysterious, entirely different from our everyday life. The telescope has made me realize the insignificance of a human life and the greatness of the universe. Every individual of us is no other than a small part of that universe, just as we are in society. This is, I believe, the significance for us to come into the society.

But the overcast sky had been discouraging us for years. The Leo meteor shower was the very thing we waited the longest and the hardest. It comes punctually on Nov. 18th every year. But every time, we were disappointed by the capricious weather in the early winter. Year after year, we waited patiently. On the way home at about 2 o'clock in the early morning, I experienced my disappointment. But no complaints. I always thought that waiting for the realization of one's ideal meant meaningfulness itself. The act of waiting is a process of maintaining and seeking hope. A human life becomes meaningful due to its hopefulness. Waiting is a pursuit. A human life becomes colorful thanks to pursuits. In summary, waiting for the realization of one's ideal was a form of happiness.

Moreover, waiting helped to build a patient character in me. Nothing in this world could be achieved without a hitch. Only after we have undergone hardship and the test of time can we gain our due reward. There is an old saying that "More Haste, Less Speed". I should attribute this important realization to my love of astronomy. This is precisely this very realization that cultivated in me the spirit of perseverance and commitment in my life and in my study.

At last, on Nov. 18th, 2001, we waited as usual, under the eerie starlight. When we were embraced by the deep night's tranquility and the starlight's softness, meteor shower presented itself to us, with the shooting lights registering themselves in my retina and in my memory.

At the very moment, I felt myself melting into the meteor shower. I felt proud for my piety and my perseverance.